


Specs

by Pyreptile



Category: Buhay Kolehiyo, SSU, Sexy Sexy Universities
Genre: Angst? I'm not sure, College/University, Gen, Mappy's Glasses, Tired College Student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-25 00:02:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10752528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyreptile/pseuds/Pyreptile
Summary: His glasses are something unique of him. Something made only for him, like a fingerprint, and having other people touch or wear them can be a bit unnerving.Basically, a story of Mappy and his glasses.





	Specs

**Author's Note:**

> This, as you know, is based from SSU or Buhay Kolehiyo. I got inspired by Don Tomas Mapua, or more affectionally known as Mappy, specially when Mod Ton draws him. Hi Mod Ton! if by any chance you read this, you guys are awesome! Thanks a bunch for Buhay Kolehiyo, it's basically one of the reasons why I open facebook. 
> 
> So, I already apologize if this will make you cringe.

“Why don’t you take off your glasses?”

 

Don opened his ruby eyes to see a hand reaching for the aforementioned spectacles. In panic, he immediately grabs a hold of the offending hand and directed it out of his face.

 

He didn’t respond, instead, he sat up, instantly missing the comfortable position of his head pillowed by Salle’s thighs. His friend shot him a questioning glance, which he ignored in favor of cracking his neck and shaking sleep off his system.

 

The interrupted power nap will only cause him headaches later, but it was good while it lasted. Never mind that, it’s not like it’s the first time he’ll function through two hours of sleep and six cups of coffee. If only a cup of coffee would equate to at least an hour of sleep, then with two hours of sleep and six cups of coffee, he’ll have the energy of eight recommended hours of sleep, but that’s not how sleep science works, and why is he even thinking about this? His two hours doesn’t even count as a legit nap, because according to that video he once watched about sleep, when he still had an iota of care about how he’ll optimally work his body, a nap should be at least _three_ hours. Should he really believe that video? What is sleep anyway? When was the last time he had uninterrupted slept for more than four hours? Why does he even try to sleep when he’ll have to wake anyway? Right… to rest his poor, harassed eyes.

 

Whatever, maybe when he’s done slaving over this semester’s project, he’d ask his fellow students how to hibernate, abandoning thoughts of looming academic responsibilities, because apparently silence in his head has become more scary than the ramblings he constantly sustains, like now.

 

Because silence leads to thoughts, and thoughts is the endless cycle of guilt and trying to escape the guilty feeling. Guilty is the ghost of the past days, _weeks, months_ that kept rewinding and haunting him. So he keeps busy, but busy is an excuse to keep him from missing people – from missing his friends, from missing occasions, from missing life. It’s an excuse for his friends to drag him out of his stressed life, to tell him that he is missed, and he’s missing a lot, and he’s overworking himself. Busy is dreamless nights, and empty mugs of coffee, heavy eyes pouring over text after text. Busy, is lying awake at night wondering where time went, if it was youth well spent.

 

They’re currently in one of the parks inside intramuros, sitting under a shady tree. Mappy having all intentions of napping, was being lulled by the warm, gentle afternoon breeze, chirping of the birds, and rustling of the leaves, that is until his friend decided it was a good idea to touch his glasses.

 

“Don’t touch them.” He warned for the umpteenth time since he met the olive-eyed man, but Salle is like a small child. The more you tell him not to, the more he’ll persistently do it. “Let’s go, I have a class in an hour.” He stated flatly, making his verdant-clad friend frown.

 

Okay, he might be overreacting a bit, but for the past months the ruby-eyed man has found his friend trying to find ways to rid him of his spectacles.

 

Did Salle really enjoy seeing him disoriented? Maybe it’s not that, he’s about to sleep anyway. Perhaps he’s just curious? But Mappy would rather submit a half-assed paper than part with his lenses. He has his own reasons why he won’t take them off. Also, it’s really annoying when people would remove your glasses without permission, and _wear_ them. The audacity of those people! Not that Salle is one of those people, but Mappy won’t put it past him to try something just to irk him.

 

Didn’t they know that wearing prescription glasses that aren’t yours could be damaging to one’s eyes?

 

His glasses are something unique of him. Something made only for him, like a fingerprint, and having other people touch or wear them can be a bit unnerving. They might break it too! And do they know how much a good pair of glasses cost?

 

Can’t people understand that if they break, he won’t be functioning like a normal human being without those pair of lenses dangling in front of his eyes? So yeah, he’d rather take his chances of wearing them even in his sleep (especially on his impromptu catnaps when he’s not in the comfort of his home), than put them down and accidentally crush them later when he looks for them (it happened a number of times, which is why he religiously put them on his bedside table before crashing on his bed, when by some miraculous intervention he doesn’t pass out on his study table).

 

“I thought you’re going to nap? You have like, 30-40 minutes to spare. Ang lapit lang ng school mo oh.” Salle remarked as he gathers his jacket, shaking off the leaves and dirt after Mappy used it as an impromptu blanket. This always happens when he sees Mappy.

 

As much as Salle wants to do fun stuff with his friend, somehow they always end up in any flat surface, him being a makeshift bed for his worn-out friend. “Saka mamaya pa ako i-memeet ni Cess, samahan mo naman muna ako.” He pled.

 

“Yeah, well I forgot, I need to…umm…I need to see my prof for consultation.” Mappy finished hurriedly, leaving Salle to sigh in frustration.

 

“Hey bro, look, I’m sorry.” Salle apologized, voice laced with concern, dropping the bad-boy bravado if it means he’ll get to spend more time with his friend. He knows there’s really no immediate prof consultation, and lord knows it will be weeks again before he unburies his workaholic friend from piles and piles of school paper and plates. He’s not intending to cut this meeting short, no sir.

 

“I know you don’t like people touching your stuff, you’re an ass that way, but I just thought na you’d be more comfortable if I take your glasses off. Tomas- I mean the yellow Tomas, takes off Phil’s glasses when he sleeps. I was going to be careful with them, promise!” Salle reasoned defensively. “Also, Phil once broke his glasses when he was left sleeping with them.”

 

Mappy looked at his friend contemplatively, before cracking a small smile, eyes hidden by the glare of his eye-lenses. “’s alright just remember next time, my glasses are off-limits.” He admonished though knowing his friend would ignore it later on anyway. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about me breaking them in my sleep. Sanay na ako. Di ko nga nahuhulog pag natutulog ako sa jeep eh.”

 

Salle let a few chuckles escape from his lips, sleeping on jeepneys is something Mappy will certainly do. Still, he was tempted to ask why won’t the man part with his glasses even for a bit, but his friend was already dragging him up. “Tara, may nakita akong nag-lalako ng ice-cream at nung pancake. Libre kita.” And Salle knows better than to pass up on free food.

 

“Anyare sa prof consultation?” he asked teasingly, cheeky smile and all.

 

“Priorities, saka absent daw si prof.” Don remarked, turning his phone on Salle’s direction to show him a message about free-time and research assignment in lieu of the missed lecture day.

 

“Masarap din yung bagoong nung kuyang nag-titinda ng mangga dun sa may tapat ng Mcdo, tara.”

 

 

 

Salle was driving to UP-Diliman with a passed out Mappy on the back seat, and a daydreaming Cess beside him. Don was on his way to UP for a seminar when Salle caught him and offered to take him there, being the good friend he is. Also his jacket is long overdue on Neo’s possession, this would be a good opportunity to wander there and retrieve it. And Cess, being Cess, decided that this would be a good chance for a spontaneous food trip.

 

The green-eyed man stole a glance at the rearview mirror in time to see Cess about to push back Mappy’s skewed glasses. “I wouldn’t do tha-” too late, the unconscious man already slapped his sister’s hand away all the while throwing in an icy, bloodshot glare, before turning away from her, mumbling about in his sleep. Salle laughed at his sister’s shook expression as she nurse her injured hand.

 

“Wha? B-but how?” the young female stammered. She _barely_ even touched the glasses!

 

“Leave it,” her brother commented nonchalantly. “It’s like he has sixth sense on that thing or something. It’s off limits daw.”

 

“What the hell?”

 

“What the hell talaga, who even sleeps with their glasses on?” Salle mumbled. One day… one day, Salle would take off those glasses himself.

  

It was raining, and raining means splatters on the glass lenses, droplets falling creating a clear mosaic out of tiny puddles. Mappy enjoys watching them fall on the glass of his windows, in front of his eyes? Not so much, but he's learned to play around it, like how he's used to seeing rays on anything that lights, making street lamps look like stars. 

 

He hears a disgruntled sigh beside him. “Sana makapag-imbento na talaga sila ng wipers para sa salamin.” Phil remarked, earning him a snort from Tomas.

 

“Di ba meron na? May nakita ako online noon eh, pero mukhang tanga.” The eldest one snickered while taking out a soft cloth from his bag to wipe Phil’s glasses, which he snatched earlier.

 

“O eto!” Tomas handed back the spectacles to his squinting friend after cleaning them. “Ako nalang muna mag-pupunas ng salamin mo.”

 

Phil gladly took back his glasses, giving Tomas a grateful smile. “Salamat ah!” the simple, sincere remark of gratitude has the smaller student desperately keeping his reddening cheeks at bay.

 

Tomas then turned to Don, who was trying to see through the haze and droplets, holding out the small piece of cloth. “Ikaw? Di mo pupunasan yung salamin mo?”

 

The red-eyed student contemplated a bit. Should he risk scaring his friends? His eyes were extra terrible today, not after pulling an all-nighter for the finals, thankfully that was over.

 

All he wanted to do now is to crash on his bed, but he promised his friends that he’d join them for a movie marathon today. As terrible as it sounds, he knows he’ll just snooze his way to the end of the movie, he doubts he’ll be able to keep his eyes open longer than the opening credits.

 

The only consolation he’ll get from this is cuddles from his friends, which he’s _really_ fond of, and food. Lord knows he’s been living off on instant noodles and coffee for the past few days, too tired and lazy to prepare something nourishing. He’ll probably regret the sodium-sugar diet later on.

 

“Nah, I’ll just clean them later. It’ll accumulate water again anyway. Effort lang.” he replied with a smile. Tomas shrugged and returned the cloth back in his bag. The three of them continued their journey towards the twins’ place since it’s their turn to host the movie night.

 

 

The lenses in front of his eyes are thicker than a coin’s width, perfect vision was never something he was gifted with, and the severity of his blindness is only growing worse and worse. Him, pushing his eyes to their limits might not be helping at all.

 

For as long as he can remember, his glasses has been his companion on his exploring, and adventures as a kid. Giving clarity and shape on blurred lines and hazy colors. Smudges became faces, lost details were restored. They became, like an extension of an arm, in this case, eyes. They’re a necessity to appreciate everything, or to simply just function like a normal human being.

 

In high school, he discovered the art of stealing naps with methodical head tilt and an open book. Glasses offered discretion, but also burdened with the title ‘ _genius’_ – an exasperating stereotype if you’ll ask him.

 

He learned that regardless of how clear your glasses are, people still wouldn’t try to look pass them. So they became his shield. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul; his windows might as well have a constant screen pulled over them, choosing only who can peer through.

 

His glasses became the mask that hides his frustration, exhaustion, and anxiety. Sunken eyes wouldn’t look as bad behind lenses, much like framed pictures, you barely notice the cracking imperfection behind the glossy surface. God knows how many eye contacts he managed to avoid with them.

 

Besides, his eyes aren’t really the pretty kind to look at. Not like Neo with his long lashes and alluring half-lidded cornflower eyes, or Salle and Cess’ mischievous lime-like eyes. Not even like the brilliant ambers of Tomas that sparkles like the sun when he gets excited, nor Phil’s comforting coffee-warm orbs.

 

His eyes?

 

His eyes are constantly bloodshot, bordering manic, and heavy with dark circles, uncoordinated without his glasses due to large difference on the prescription grade.

 

Mappy is a very expressive person; people close to him would always tell him that. His sensitivity can be both a blessing and a curse sometimes. His glasses became like a fence, guarding him at his most vulnerable. He sheds his child-like appearance when he dons his spectacles, making him look older and more distant than he really is.

 

 

When Salle pushed him out of a speeding car’s way, that he didn’t see through his fogged up glasses due to the change in temperature after stepping out of his friend’s car, he knew he owe him his life.

 

“Putcha, Don! Okay ka lang?” The older student immediately rushed to his friend’s aid to see Neo already beside him. “Gago yung driver na yun ah!” Salle remarked angrily, not that it will do much since the car was driving so fast, they barely got its plate number.

 

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Neo asked worriedly at the frozen Mappy whose was face partially hidden by his hair.

 

They watched as their friend tried to reach out for the familiar frame, looking so much like a lost child, eyes unseeing. Salle knows Mappy is nearsighted, he can still somehow see, albeit a bit blurred, that the once beautiful pair of lenses are nothing more than a mangled steel and jagged glasses.

 

“I feel naked without them.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So...umm... that was a disaster. Thank you for reading that uncoordinated mess of a story, I'll probably fix this later on. Let me know what you think.
> 
>  
> 
> By the way, this story aside, I really like Don's eyes. I think they're beautiful in their own right.


End file.
